RÚV reports that the first shipment of vaccines is due to arrive in the country on December 28th. Ásta Valdimarsdóttir, the ministerial manager of the Ministry of Health, spoke about this at yesterday’s Civil Defence information meeting.
Ásta stated that Iceland will be receiving 10,000 doses from Pfizer on December 28th. This means that vaccinations will be able to begin before the end of the year, provided that a marketing authorisation is granted in Europe for the vaccine. Last week, the government reported that frontline health care workers, those in care homes and nursing homes, and the elderly would be given priority regarding who will receive the vaccine first.
Ásta stated that 50,000 doses have been secured for this season through the agreement with Pfizer. However, Ásta made it clear that in the coming months it should be possible to guarantee vaccinations for the entire country, due to agreements with Astra, Pfizer and Jansen. The doses secured from agreements with all three of these companies will amount to enough to vaccinate more than Iceland’s population of over 350,000.
Although this is very promising, Ásta warns that we will need to be patient. Receiving, distributing and administering vaccines for the entire country could take anywhere from 3 to 5 months, she says.
6 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday, a number lower than the last few days. As the country awaits the arrival of the vaccine, we can hope that cases will continue to decline.
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